Well, he did offer me a partial truth yesterday… “I didn’t wreck it. But I was there, and I did blow the legal limit.” I tilt my head, thinking. “And I had a massive amount of blow in my system.” A twinkle in his hazel irises; his drug of choice, maybe. “Anyway, past is past. I’m out now and have to earn some quick money to buy another bike.”
His lips verge on a smile. “So it was the bike,” he says.
“It was totally the bike, dude.” I nudge his arm. “Did you really think I went with you that day because of your hot ass?”
He chuckles. “A guy can dream.”
His gaze rests on me and I stare back, our sight only on each other, and a stupid flutter wings to life in my stomach. Stupid hormones. I tamp the feeling down and look back to the track.
“So you’re a biker,” he says. “A one-percenter. Living the lifestyle.”
“I see you’ve been doing your research.”
“And then some,” he says. I glimpse a guarded expression crossing his face from my peripheral. “I thought you weren’t in a motorcycle gang.”
“I’m not. Not every biker—especially women bikers—are part of an MC. You can travel the country without an affiliation, ya know.”
He nods slowly. “You really are all about the rush, aren’t you?”
“I can say the same about you.”
His face is so close to mine, I can feel his warm breath feather along my lips. Our stare down is becoming too intense. I lick my lips, watching his eyes follow my tongue’s trail across my mouth.
“Mel!” Jesse calls from the other side of the giant fence, gaining my attention and breaking the moment. I sit back and look for Jesse. He’s down in the pit with Tank, getting ready for his race. “You coming?”
“Go on!” I yell back. “I’ll be there soon.”
Jesse hesitates, his gaze hard on me and Boone, before he turns and heads toward his Forty-Eight. A sinking feeling hits my stomach, and I’m again craving a hit. I push that feeling way down. It’s like chemistry or some shit. Jesse is linked to getting a high. Cause and effect.
Which reminds me; Jesse got way out of line with Boone and the whole possessive MC shit. He was like that with Simon, too. I’ve always figured it was a brotherly kind of protection thing. But for the past few days, I’ve been considering what Dar said that night. How she kept hinting toward Jesse and me as an item. It’s amazing the crap you have time to think about when you’re sober. I never would’ve given it two seconds of my time before.
“Your friend doesn’t like me very much,” Boone says, interrupting my weird thoughts.
I shrug. “Jesse’s like that. Don’t worry about it.”
“I wasn’t, really.” He ducks his head to find my eyes. “But I am concerned that he seems to think you’re his property.”
My insides rage. “I’m no one’s fucking property,” I bite out. “And you don’t know him. You don’t know the MC. It’s just their way…to like, look out for me and shit.”
Boone holds his hands up in defense. “Take it down a notch, Riz. Not looking for a brawl here.”
“Funny. I thought that was your MO, fight club.”
This earns me a full-on smile, and my anger takes a dive. “Fair enough. Truce?” He extends his hand.
With a forced sigh, I take his hand and shake. But he doesn’t release it. Instead, he subtly twists his hand so that our fingers align, palm-to-palm, then laces his fingers through mine. My traitor heart kicks my rib cage.
“How ill am I going to be watching you out there?” he says.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, you won’t be on a bike you’re used to, right? I’m assuming whoever’s bike you’re going to race is one of the guy’s from down there.” He nods toward the pit. “Not built for a woman.” He eyes me. “A petite one, at that.”
“I resent the fact that you think I’d have to ride a chick bike.”
He looks me over slowly, from head, to body, to toes, sending a flood of new heat everywhere. “What did you ride before?”
I attempt to hide my smile, doing a terrible job. “A Breakout, okay?” His smile widens, and I’m tempted to punch him in the shoulder. “I know…I know. But you have to admit that like, even though technically designed for chicks, it’s still bad ass.” I shrug. “I need a lower model, being vertically challenged and all.”